When are the authorities concerned (be they Transport Malta, the police or traffic wardens) going to wake up and do something to put a stop to the daily traffic chaos between St Julians Bay and the small painted roundabout at the very busy junction in St George’s Road?

The traffic congestion in this main artery has been compounded by the Arriva “bendy” buses parking in the main bus stop by Spinola Palace in a haphazard manner. It takes just two such buses in a row to create a total traffic stoppage. Just before getting down to write this letter I personally experienced one Arriva “bendy” bus driver holding up traffic endlessly while he had a long argument with alighting passengers to the extent that he was even in conversation by phone – evidently with an inspector who was taking his time to come to the scene.

Throughout this episode all traffic was held up in the hot mid-morning sun. The chaos was made worse by the egoism of two other drivers. One who drove his tourist coach out of Spinola Road and made a (prohibited) right turn stopping in the middle of the main road and thus blocking traffic on both sides. The other a driver of a truck who decided to stop astride the painted roundabout instead of stopping short of this (once it was so evident that traffic going towards St Julians Bay was at a standstill) so as to at least allow vehicles heading there to turn right towards Portomaso.

Clearly, the presence of a traffic policeman or warden is essential at two of the main problem areas, i.e. near the exit from Spinola Road and also by the small painted roundabout. Those who offend traffic regulations by turning right when exiting from Spinola Road, as well as all vehicles not observing roundabout rules, should be given a ticket rather than a warning as they are the main causes of such traffic chaos. The same applies to Arriva bus drivers who do not stop properly in their allotted parking bays.